132, High Street

132 High Street, Tewkesbury

This is a house in a row with shops, formerly the Wheatsheaf Inn, later known as the Gaiety Restaurant. It dates from the early 16th century but was refronted in the mid-17th century, with an 18th-century extension added later. Above the door lintel are the initials J.V., which may refer to John Underhill (died 1719). The building is timber-framed with plaster panels, close-studded to the front, with brickwork, tile roofs, and brick stacks.

The property consists of a 4-storey narrow frontage with a decorative central gable on 3 jettied stages, a side entry to a throughway, and a long 2-storey back wing with a later extension or separate property. The frontage block has a double-depth, single-room width plan with a central stack towards the right-hand party wall.

The street front rises 4 storeys over a basement and features a canted bay with mullioned and transomed casements in 1:5:1-light arrangement; at the first and second floors, this continues full-width with 3-light casements. All lights are small, near-square, with plain glass. The ogee-shaped gable has ogee side wings, and all framing and window members have sunk ovolo-moulded edges. The ground floor has a 3-pane 19th-century shop front with a 5-pane overlight on a stall riser; a blank panel to the right; and to the left a heavy moulded and stopped door frame with flat 4-centred head, decorative frieze, and moulded cornice, opening to a pair of glazed doors. The gable features returned sides with framing and a small brick stack on the front slope to the left. The throughway retains remains of framing, including a heavy haunched post set back from the doorway, showing the earlier position of the front wall with a jetty over it. Doors from the passage lead to the shop and rear wing, which includes various casements, including a large one at ground floor. The rear section is in brickwork with a tiled roof to a central valley and twin hipped ends. The end wall contains a casement under a segmental head beneath the valley and a further narrow light at ground floor; the party wall has a wide casement to a segmental head at first floor. A cropped brick stack stands in the rear slope of the front building.

Interior features are notably rich. The shop retains 2 walls of 17th-century panelling and 2 chamfered beams; the fireplace is concealed. To the left, a lobby gives access to a tight wood spiral staircase with a continuous circular newel, while a separate stair descends to the basement, which has stone flank walls at the front, a concrete floor, and chamfered beams. The back section has a brick floor and walls. At ground floor, a 6-panelled door (from Stafford) leads to a lofty rear room with a series of beams on heavy posts. A large brick fireplace with brick hood stands at the front. Beyond lies a further lofty room with a series of very heavy, close-set, stopped-chamfer beams carrying across the side passage with separate stops. This room also has a large reconstructed brick fireplace; adjoining the party wall is evidence for a former tight spiral stair. In the rear wall, set high, is a narrow 12-pane light.

The first-floor front parlour has a 4-compartment ceiling with chamfered beams and a brick chimney breast with remains of early painting on the return. To the right is a built-in cupboard fronted with 17th-century panelling and doors, with a grille above. The square-framed party walls retain important remains of early 17th-century fresco painting, now covered; 3 panels display painted trompe-l'oeuil panelling. Very large jetty posts are set in from the front wall. At the rear of the room is an arched early 19th-century window with Gothick head, brought from a demolished property in Thornbury. The middle room includes large structural posts and a length of 16th-century moulded beam. The rear unit is subdivided but retains a longitudinal plaster moulded beam under the central valley.

At second-floor level, the staircase divides into separate stairs to the attic rooms. The front parlour includes heavy braced tie beams, a cupboard by the chimney breast with 17th-century doors, an early 3-plank door, and a small 19th-century grate in the front corner. This room, with others, has very wide early boards. The central room at second floor has a plastered ceiling with plaster moulded beams to the centre and all edges, and a large casement to the throughway. The front attic retains early roofing, including a short king or crown post to high collar (obscured); a separate narrow room or store stands on the lower slope beyond the raised gable to the south. The attic to the rear wing, accessed by a separate stair, includes an internal partition with boarding; the floors, reputedly for mustard seed storage, were formerly covered with lime mortar.

This is an exceptionally fine merchant's house, particularly notable for its magnificent 17th-century frontage and interior decorative schemes which would repay further investigation.